>> AFTER A MONTH WORKING IN A BROOKLYN HOSPITAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT, AN MATC RESPIRATORY CARE INSTRUCTOR WAS READY TO COME HOME. >> SHOCKING, TO SAY THE LEAST. >> MIKE CHRISTMAN HELPED VENTILATE COVID-19 PATIENTS AND PUT OTHERS ON OXYGEN, BUT SAYS THE HOSPITAL FELT UNDER SIEGE AND EVERY DAY BROUGHT MULTIPLE DEATHS. >> THERE WERE A NUMBER O PATIENTS WITH NO CORBETT BIDDIES -- NO COMORBIDITIES AND THEY DIED. >> MIKE SAYS HE’D OFTEN WAKE-UP IN A COLD SWEAT NIGHTMARES ABOUT THE TRAGEDIES HE’D SEEN A FEARS HE’D CATCH IT HIMSELF. THE FEAR DIDN’T END EVEN AS HE LEFT FOR MILWAUKEE ON A FULL FLIGHT SOME PASSENGERS REFUSING TO WEAR MASKS. >> YOU WOULD THINK IT WOULD BE LOGICAL FROM THAT HOT ZONE THAT EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE A MASK. NOT THE CASE. >> MIKE KEPT HIS MEDICAL N-95 MASK ON THE ENTIRE FLIGH > HE SAID HE WAS PREPARED TO QUARANTINE IN A CAMPER IN THE DRIVEWAY, BUT A NEGATIVE TEST MAKE THAT UNNECESSARY. ONE OF THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS CAME LAST WEEK, WHEN HIS BROOKLYN COWORKERS QUESTIONED HIM, STUNNED BY THE IMAGES OF CROWDED BARS IN HIS HOME STATE OF WISCONSIN. >> I DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT MENTALITY. AFTER SEEING WHAT I SAW, YOU HAVE TO BE SLOW ABOUT THE OPENING. YOU HAVE TO BE SLOW AND SAFE. >> IN IXONIA, NICK BOHR, WISN 12 NEWS. JOYCE: PIER -- CHRISTMAN TELLS

A Milwaukee Area Technical College respiratory care instructor back from treating COVID-19 patients in the hot zone in New York says he’s still having nightmares, but would do it again. After a month in a Brooklyn hospital intensive care unit, Mike Christman was ready to come home.Christman helped ventilate COVID-19 patients and put others on oxygen, but said the hospital felt under siege, and every day brought multiple deaths. "There were a number of patients, more than I can count, that came with no comorbidities, under the age of 30, and there's three that stick out in my mind that were in their 20s, that came into the ICU walking and talking and by the end of my shift, eight or nine hours later, they were dying, or died," Christman said. Christman said he'd often wake up in a cold sweat, having nightmares about the tragedies he'd seen and fears he'd catch it himself. The fear didn't end even as he left for Milwaukee. On a full flight, some passengers refused to wear masks. "You'd think that'd be logical. From that hot zone, you'd think everybody would have a mask on, but that wasn't the case," Christman said. Christman kept his medical N95 mask on the entire flight. Christman was prepared to quarantine himself in a camper parked in his driveway but said his negative COVID test made that unnecessary.One of the most memorable moments came last week, when his Brooklyn coworkers questioned him, stunned by the images of crowded bars in his home state of Wisconsin."I don't understand that mentality. After seeing what I saw out there, you gotta be slow about reopening. I get it. The economy's gotta reopen, but you gotta be slow about it, and safe," Christman said. Christman told sister station he wants to meet with Wisconsin health officials to share some of the lessons he learned in New York.

IXONIA, Wis. —

A Milwaukee Area Technical College respiratory care instructor back from treating COVID-19 patients in the hot zone in New York says he’s still having nightmares, but would do it again.

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After a month in a Brooklyn hospital intensive care unit, Mike Christman was ready to come home.

Christman helped ventilate COVID-19 patients and put others on oxygen, but said the hospital felt under siege, and every day brought multiple deaths.

"There were a number of patients, more than I can count, that came with no comorbidities, under the age of 30, and there's three that stick out in my mind that were in their 20s, that came into the ICU walking and talking and by the end of my shift, eight or nine hours later, they were dying, or died," Christman said.

Christman said he'd often wake up in a cold sweat, having nightmares about the tragedies he'd seen and fears he'd catch it himself.

The fear didn't end even as he left for Milwaukee. On a full flight, some passengers refused to wear masks.

"You'd think that'd be logical. From that hot zone, you'd think everybody would have a mask on, but that wasn't the case," Christman said.

Christman was prepared to quarantine himself in a camper parked in his driveway but said his negative COVID test made that unnecessary.

One of the most memorable moments came last week, when his Brooklyn coworkers questioned him, stunned by the images of crowded bars in his home state of Wisconsin.

"I don't understand that mentality. After seeing what I saw out there, you gotta be slow about reopening. I get it. The economy's gotta reopen, but you gotta be slow about it, and safe," Christman said.

Christman told sister station he wants to meet with Wisconsin health officials to share some of the lessons he learned in New York.